Network 101

network
Physical and logical mess

Once exclusive to only businesses and corporations in the past, networks have become commonplace in almost all aspects of our life now. Do you have  WIFI at home?  Are there multiple computers connected to the internet and a printer you all share at work?  You’re on a network!

Having all your personal computers, smartphones, tablets, home automation devices, tv’s and other devices all connected seems so easy that we do it without a thought and a lot of times, without a professional.  But what’s really going on?   Are you set up correctly?   Are you open to intrusion from a hacker? Is your network as fast as it should be?   Do you pay for fast internet but get choppy streaming?

We’d like to give you a few tips on setting up your network and maybe some insight in to why you should hire Cyberdyne Systems to clean up your piece of the cloud.

  • Your modem/router.   

This is where your cable or DSL connection physically comes into your home or business and is connected.  If provided by the ISP (Internet Service Provider), this will most likely have a default username and password for the router AND the default WIFI it comes set up with.  For most people this is fine since these companies have changed to using complex passwords now instead of simple ones in the past.  If you are using your own equipment, you will want to change your admin name and password as soon as you get into the device and make sure you save this information somewhere safe.  A good password policy is to make it at least 8 characters in length with at least ONE capital letter, ONE lower case letter, ONE number and ONE special character (Like #, $,@, %, etc)

  • Your WIFI.   

This is what you configure to actually connect to your network wirelessly.  Your router will probably have default values for the SSID (Service Set Identifier). This is basically the name you are going to use to identify YOUR wireless network.  Make this name unique to other SSID’s around you.  Security should be set at WPA2 and a strong password should be used here, again. (see min password strength above) At Cyberdyne Systems, we also recommend that you actually do NOT broadcast your SSID and just enter it manually. This adds an additional layer of security to your WIFI network.

  • DHCP, DNS, IPV6, what are all these??   

Basically, this is where your networking can get a little messy and confusing. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is there to hand out addresses to your devices. Unfortunately, most default settings have your router assigning your complete address pool this way.  Do you want that? No.  a lot of times we want certain devices to have a STATIC address. One that NEVER changes.  Printers, shared network devices, home or business servers ETC.   DNS (Domain Name System) is there to get you to where you need to go on the internet. It resolves names to addresses your computer will understand,   ie.. https://www.Yahoo.com =  206.190.36.45    Issues with name resolution most likely are to occur with businesses and their network services that need to access the cloud.  Dynamic DNS is something on the rise in home networks right now with demand increasing and prices going up. More and more people are accessing services from the home like Shared drives, security cams and systems, home automation and etc.  

  • We pay for awesome internet speed. How come our streams are choppy or our online games glitchy? 

 Most routers include a feature called QoS. (Quality of Service) This feature can allocate bandwidth priority and limits for your widely used services.  Most of these also include predefined service parameters for different games and products. Sometimes it’s as easy as point and click for setting these up.  Other times, it’s worth hiring a professional to tweak your network for smooth performance.

 

Contact us today if we can be of any help!

Phone: 702-291-2004

Email: Team@cyberdynetechsys.com


 Click here for an expanded list of services.

 

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